Opinion Piece

Ok, so here is an opinion piece. Hope I don't offend anyone, but we all know what opinions are like.

So, the mainstream media seems to love to point out how bad guns are and to an extent, how bad gun owners are. Very rarely, well, almost never do you hear or see a story in the main stream media that shows the positive side of gun ownership. You only really ever see the "6 people killed by man with gun". If you read the comments in these stories, it's almost always negative against guns and gun ownership. If you attempt to even show the "other side" of the story, you're instantly branded a lying, right wing, conservative nutjob, a member of the Aryan nation, and someone who has the mental capacity of a moron. I've even had people wish that I was dead and they wouldn't throw you a line if you were drowning. It's really sad how bad the mainstream media portrays us.

The strange thing is, is that the gun owners I've met have been nice, educated, welcoming, friendly, and helpful. While there is the usual "redneck" banter, you don't really see that at a range or at a match. I've met shooters since I've started who have been doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, mechanics, engineers, IT technicians  etc, so the education issues don't seem to be valid. We see a lot of folks from all races and color of skin and we're accepting of those things because it's the way things are done when you are courteous. Maybe it's the conservative way of life, where we help one another, we watch out for each other, and we're taught to be nice until it's time not to be nice. Maybe it's just a phenomenon of legal gun owners.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but we could really use some more stories about the good things we do, and less of the bad stories about illegal gun ownership and what those folks do. Now if the mainstream media would actually run them.

Anyway, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight.